Last Christmas
by Rika24
Summary: It's Christmas Eve and Team 7 is tired of waiting for Kakashi so they go looking for him. They soon find out the truth about their sensei's lateness as well as his hidden pain. ONESHOT


_Yup, here is a oneshot, my very first. You know what that means right? You don't have to deal with my Kakashi style updates! (at least for this one). I was just in a Christmas mood, that's where this came from. It's also because of Tobi showing himself to Kakashi in the previous manga chapter, I'm so excited and worried at the same time (Yes I support the ObiTobi theory). Btw, this takes place after the Chunin exams but Sasuke didn't leave._

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_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

Last Christmas

By: Rika24

Summary: It's Christmas Eve and Team 7 is tired of waiting for Kakashi so they go looking for him. They soon find out the truth about their sensei's lateness as well as his hidden pain.

"Grr he's late AGAIN!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as he grabbed at his blonde hair in frustration. "It's Christmas Eve too! Some of us would like to spend some time doing something else instead of just training!" Naruto's loud ranting continued, regardless of his two cringing teammates. "That is it! I'm not waiting here anymore!" Naruto yelled as he stomped away angrily. Sakura ran after him.

"Naruto wait a minute." She said as she grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. "What if Kakashi-sensei shows up and you're …"

Naruto cut her off as he pulled away, "I don't care! You can tell him I went looking for him. I'm sure someone knows where he lives." Sakura no longer looked worried, instead she looked interested.

_That does sound like a good excuse for not being here and I am curious as to where Kakashi-sensei lives and what he does that makes him so late all the time…_ Sakura thought. "Mind if I tag along?"

Naruto's angry face instantly transformed into a wide grin and he nodded enthusiastically. "Sure you can!" he exclaimed, "Hey teme, you wanna come too?" he asked as he turned to Sasuke who had been listening to their conversation with mild interest. When he silently nodded Naruto beamed. "All right! This'll be just like the last time we teamed up. Remember when we tried to get Kakashi-sensei to remove his mask?" Sakura and Sasuke nodded grimly.

"Lets just hope this turns out better though." Sakura frowned.

"I agree, because that day was a serious waist of my time." Sasuke added.

"Admit it teme, it was fun though." Naruto said as the three began walking.

"Hn," was Sasuke's reply.

"So what are we going to do to find him, ask someone?" Sakura asked as she held the hood of her pink winter coat as a chilly blast of wind almost knocked it off.

"I was thinking of asking Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered as he headed toward the ninja academy. "Iruka-sensei usually hangs around the academy."

"It's Christmas Eve dobe, he won't be there."

"Oh he'll be there; he always has been in the past because he'd always take me to Ichiraku's for ramen." Naruto answered Sasuke as they neared the school. Just like Naruto thought, there was Iruka talking to one of the other Chunin, "Hey Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka turned and waved at the three Genin as they approached. "Hey Merry Christmas, how's training going?" at the mention of training the smiles on Sakura and Naruto's faces disappeared. Iruka immediately noticed, "Something wrong?"

"Kakashi-sensei was late, AGAIN!" Naruto yelled, drawing the attention of the Chunin Iruka was talking to as well as every ninja nearby.

Iruka smiled at Naruto, "Maybe he does it on purpose to help you learn patience." He nearly laughed at Naruto's annoyed expression.

Naruto folded his arms in front of his chest with a scowl on his face, "That better not be it." Naruto's scowl immediately turned into a wide grin as he continued, "That's why we're here Iruka-sensei, we wanted to know if you knew where Kakashi-sensei was so we could find out why he's always late."

Iruka's expression turned serious as he thought. "I don't know where Kakashi is, I don't really know him all that well. He usually keeps to himself."

"Yeah we know that, we don't know anything about him except that he's a Jounin, very strong, loves reading those… books," Sakura made a disgusted face before she continued, "and has the sharingan. Other than that, we know absolutely nothing about him."

"Would you know where he lives? I remember hearing that all Chunin and Jounin sensei's have to know where each other lives in case of an emergency," Sasuke said.

"Yeah I do know, he lives near the ANBU headquarters, it's the smallest house to the left."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he started running. Sakura grabbed him before he got too far.

"You idiot, the ANBU headquarters is in the opposite direction!" Naruto stared at her for a second and laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

"I knew that Sakura-chan."

"Yeah right," she said in an annoyed tone before she started dragging him in the right direction. When she turned to Iruka, who had an amused expression on his face, her scowl turned into a smile. "Thanks Iruka-sensei."

"You're welcome," he called after them, "good luck."

After a few minutes of walking the three Genin arrived at the tiny house. "Sensei lives here!?" Naruto shouted. "It's a dump."

Sakura hit him on his head, "It is not. It's just small and old." Sasuke nodded.

"At least it doesn't look anywhere near as bad as yours dobe." Sasuke added. Naruto was about to start a fight when Sakura stepped in between them.

"Stop it you two," she grabbed both of them by the hand and pulled them towards the door. When they were in front she released their hands and knocked on the door. After a few minutes she knocked again. She tapped her foot impatiently as Naruto pouted and Sasuke leaned on the building.

"I guess he's not home." Sakura said with a sigh.

Naruto huffed, "yeah, that or he's just ignoring us. It wouldn't be the first time." A few seconds passed before a sly grin appeared on his face. Sakura immediately knew something was going through the prankster's head, and she knew it would be bad.

"What are you up to?" she asked cautiously. Naruto's grin widened as he lifted up his kunai.

"We break in."

Sakura's eyes immediately widened and she shook her head, "No way Naruto! We'd get in serious trouble." However, Inner Sakura was smiling with an evil grin to rival Naruto's. She rubbed her hands together and chuckled softly, _let's do it. It'll teach him not to keep us waiting, Shannaro! _Sakura shuddered at her inner as she silently wondered; _does everyone have one that acts like that? I always though your conscience was supposed to keep you from doing bad things, not tell you to. _Sakura sighed_. Maybe mine's defective_.

Sakura and Sasuke stood and watched as Naruto picked the lock with his kunai. After a few minutes the door opened. "Yes! We're in guys." Naruto said happily as he put his kunai away. Sakura swallowed hard out of fear of what Kakashi might do if he ever found out about this. Sasuke was as calm and indifferent as ever.

The three ninja crept into their sensei's house carefully, keeping their senses high in case Kakashi was there. Naruto came to a door that was closed, carefully he opened it a little to take a peak inside. When he saw that no one was in there he opened it.

"Looks like we found Kakashi-sensei's bedroom," Sakura said as they walked into the room. The room had green walls and green ceiling. In the corner was a large bookcase with a lot of books, surprisingly not Icha Icha. His bed had a shurikan-patterned comforter, and above it on a shelf were his many Icha Icha books, an alarm clock, a plant, and two photographs.

The three ninjas immediately took interest in the two photos. Naruto walked up and lifted one of them. "Hey, he does like us, see," Naruto said as he turned and held the photo up for Sakura and Sasuke to see. In the photo, Kakashi was leaning over them with his visible eye curved to show he was smiling, Sasuke looked annoyed, Naruto was glaring at Sasuke, and Sakura was in the middle, happy as ever.

"That's our squad photo Naruto, we all got one. It's no big deal," Sakura said as she took the photo from him.

"Yeah but look," he said as he pointed to the other photo, "there's only one other squad photo he has so we mean something to him right?"

Sakura set their squad 7 photo back where Naruto got it and picked up the one Naruto was pointing at. In the photo was a blonde Jounin, posed in a similar way Kakashi was in their squad photo, the three Genin were closer to each other and were all facing the camera. The tallest Genin had spiky black hair, orange goggles on, and what looked like a stick in his mouth. The boy next to him had silvery white hair and a very bored expression on his face. The girl, positioned similarly to Sakura in their photo, had brown hair and markings on her face similar to the Inuzuka clan. She was smiling and giving double peace signs. "This must be Kakashi-sensei's Genin squad photo, see?" she said as she pointed out the silver haired ninja who looked to be about twelve or thirteen.

"Yeah, it looks like he wore that stupid mask even back then," Naruto scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "How come we've never met any of the other three?" Sakura asked as she stared hard at the other ninjas in the picture to see if she could recognize any of them.

As Sakura and Naruto tried to figure out who they were, Sasuke stared at the photo as he thought of what had happened between him and Kakashi after the exams.

**:: Flashback ::**

Kakashi had tied Sasuke to a tree after Naruto and Sasuke fought. "Sasuke, forget about revenge," Kakashi said as he looked down at the young Uchiha. Sasuke glared at him and a small growl came out of him. "Those that follow the path of revenge are doomed to suffer, most end in tragedy. You'll end up hurting more than you are now. Even if you do manage to get your revenge for your clan's murder, you'll only be left with emptiness."

Sasuke couldn't sit and listen to Kakashi anymore and shouted, "What do you know?! Stop talking to me like you understand what it's like to lose everyone!"

"Calm down," Kakashi said in a stern voice. A dark smirk appeared on the angry Genin's face as he continued to glare.

"What if I were to kill everyone you ever loved? How far would you stray from what you just said," the boy's expression turned even darker as he continued, "I can make you feel true pain."

Kakashi just stared at his student for a second before replying, "Well, I guess you could… but unfortunately I don't have any loved ones." Sasuke growled angrily at the copy ninja until Kakashi spoke again, locking his eyes with Sasuke's. "Everyone I ever loved has already been killed." Sasuke's angry face immediately changed to one of shock as his eyes widened. "I've lived longer than you. Times were bad for me when I was little. I do know the pain of losing somebody I love just as well as you do."

**:: End Flashback ::**

Sasuke walked up and took the photo out of Sakura's hands and stared at the faces of the other ninja in the photo. _Whoever they were, if they were the loved ones Kakashi spoke of back then…_ Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes, _then they're all already dead_.

A sudden noise startled them and Sasuke dropped the photo. When the photo hit the ground the glass frame shattered. "Oh no," Sakura said sadly as she bent down to pick up the photo and it's shattered frame. "What do we do now?"

"Lets just get out of here," Sasuke said as he headed for the door.

"But Sasuke-kun, we can't just leave his picture like this." Sakura said as she watched Sasuke leave the bedroom. Sakura turned to Naruto; "we have to get a new frame for this photo." Naruto nodded and they headed out to meet up with Sasuke who was already outside of the house.

"Don't you even care Teme?!" Naruto shouted when they found Sasuke walking down the street. The raven-haired Genin turned toward the loud blonde. "Stop yelling dobe, do you want everyone to know?"

"Grrrr" Naruto growled, Sakura stepped between them, "Stop it, repairing Kakashi-sensei's photo is more important right now."

"If I can't complete 1000 push-ups than I'll do 2000 sit-ups!" Shouted a voice not far away.

"That's it Lee, use the power of youth!" Shouted another.

"Right Gai-sensei!" Lee answered.

Sakura and Sasuke cringed at the loud voices of the two Taijutsu experts. Naruto ran over to where the voices were coming from, Sakura and Sasuke followed after him. It took only a second to find Lee and Gai who were with Neji and TenTen. Naruto ran up to Gai and Lee. "Hey Bushybrow!" Naruto shouted towards Lee.

"Hey Naruto," Lee said as he stopped his push-ups.

"What brings you here Naruto?" Gai asked. Naruto turned to him. "Gai-sensei, do you know where we can find Kakashi-sensei?" Gai thought for a second before replying.

"I'm not sure, you three should know though, you are his students after all."

Sakura sighed, "Unfortunately, we don't know Kakashi-sensei very well. We actually just found out today where he lives." Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out the photo, "we don't even know Kakashi-sensei's Genin teammates," she said as she handed him the photo.

When Gai took the photo his entire body tensed, Sasuke immediately picked up on it, as did Lee, Neji, and TenTen. "What is that Gai-sensei?" TenTen asked as she looked at the photo.

"It's Kakashi-sensei's Genin squad photo." Naruto answered. Gai shook his head. "You three really don't know a lot about Kakashi. This isn't his Genin squad, it's his Chunin squad." The three Genin looked at the Taijutsu master with looks of shock on their faces. "But, they look to be the same age as us, and we're Genin." Sakura said.

"Kakashi was a Genin for only one year, he became a Chunin at six years old." Gai's reply earned gasps from Kakashi's students along with his own.

"Wow, I didn't know that!" Naruto shouted as he bounced up and down in excitement. "How did you know that Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I've known Kakashi since the two of us were six. Now," Gai started as he held the photo up, "where did you get this? I doubt it was from Kakashi because you'd know who they were then." Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke tensed.

"Well you see…" Naruto started as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "we kinda, broke into Kakashi-sensei's house and broke the frame for the photo so we were going to find a replacement for it."

"Why would you break into my eternal rival's house?"

Sakura answered for Naruto, "We were trying to find him, and also find out why he's always late. By the way Gai-sensei, who are those people in the photo? We'd love to meet them." Gai's expression changed to one of sadness as he lowered his head. Gai's sudden reaction confused everyone there except Sasuke. "They're dead aren't they?" he asked, earning startled looks from his fellow Genin. They all turned to Gai for the answer, which was a slow nod as he reopened his eyes to focus on the photo in his hand.

"Kakashi's had a hard life, he was orphaned when he was six, and at the same time most of the village treated him like garbage." Again the Genin looked shocked, but this time Sasuke did too.

"Why would the village treat Kakashi-sensei like garbage?" Lee asked.

"Because of what his father, 'Konoha's White Fang,' did. He abandoned a mission when his teammates were taken hostage. Abandoning his mission hurt Konoha; we lost one of our most important allies because the mission was to back them up, which never happened. When he returned the village saw him as a failure, even the very teammates he gave everything up for turned on him." Naruto clenched his fists as he said through his teeth, "How, how could they betray him when he saved their lives? How could this village treat him like that? It sounds like the 'White Fang' was a hero, not a failure!" Sakura, Lee, TenTen, and Neji nodded, agreeing with Naruto.

"I don't know why they did that, all I know is that his friends' betrayal hurt the 'White Fang' bad, to the point where he committed suicide right in front of Kakashi when he had only just returned from the Chunin exams." Again everyone was shocked at this new information.

"How do you know all of this?" Sakura asked him.

"His sensei," Gai said as he pointed at the blonde Jounin in the photo, "Minato Namikaze, told me. I was a little worried when Kakashi stopped talking to me, so I asked him instead."

"What about the other two?" Sakura asked, a little afraid of the answer.

Gai pointed at the boy, now known to them to actually be a Chunin, with goggles and black hair, "That's Obito Uchiha, Kakashi's best friend." At the mention of an Uchiha Sasuke's ears perked up, Gai noticed. "Yeah that's right, he's also the one who gave Kakashi the Sharingan." Everyone was once again shocked, Sasuke especially. "It was on a mission into Iwa back when we were at war with them. Kakashi, just thirteen, had been promoted to Jounin and was put in charge while Minato headed over to help the other Jounin."

"Kakashi-sensei became a Jounin at thirteen!" Naruto shouted.

Gai grinned, "Yup, that's just like my rival. Always doing the impossible." Gai's grin faded as he continued, "Anyways, their other teammate, Rin," Gai pointed at the brunette in the photo, "got taken hostage. Kakashi was faced with the very same choice his father had. Only, he planned to abandon her."

"But, that's not something Kakashi-sensei would do!" Sakura exclaimed, "he even said to us, 'ninja who break the rules are garbage, but those who abandon their friends are worse than garbage,' he'd be going against his word."

Gai shook his head, "the Kakashi you know now is completely different from the Kakashi back then. Back then Kakashi was a strict follower of the rules because he didn't want to end up like his father. I guess you could say that compared to the Kakashi of the past, Sasuke would be considered friendly."

"You mean Kakashi-sensei was meaner than Sasuke-teme?!" Naruto shouted in shock, Sakura and Sasuke were both shocked as well.

"Yeah, like I said, the rules were all that mattered to him. And of course being faced with the exact same situation his father, Sakumo, had been in, it gave Kakashi all the more reason to become even meaner. I know it was a hard decision for him to make. He rarely showed it, but he really did care about his teammates. But think about it, the mission given to Kakashi was to destroy the bridge that the enemy used to get supplies. Destroying that bridge would cut off their supply and weaken them. Meaning the end to the war would come sooner and be in Konoha's favor. But if Kakashi abandoned that mission to save Rin, or to even post-pone it would mean the enemy could find out and the mission would be a failure."

"So what happened?" Sakura asked.

"For whatever reason, Kakashi decided to post-pone the mission and went to save Rin." Gai's gaze returned to the photo as he continued, "Rin told me what happened. It was during her rescue that Kakashi lost his eye protecting Obito. After rescuing her, a rockslide was caused by an Iwa ninja. Kakashi was hit in his blind spot and was disoriented enough to not sense the boulder falling towards him." Gai cringed as he continued, "Last minute, Obito pushed Kakashi out of harms way. But his entire right side was pinned under the boulder in the process. Obito asked Rin to transfer his only remaining Sharingan into Kakashi's eye socket to replace the damaged one. It was meant to be a sign that their friendship would continue beyond death." Gai paused to look at the six Genin that eagerly awaited the rest of the story. "Now with the Sharingan, Kakashi used his Chidori to avenge Obito by killing the Iwa ninja that caused the rockslide." Gai paused again, this time to look at Sasuke who looked to be deep in thought.

_So Kakashi was an avenger just like me. He got his revenge, but from what he said, revenge only leaves you feeling empty. _Sasuke thought. He looked up to find everyone staring at him. Obviously, everyone noticed that Gai had been staring at him and were wondering why. Of course, only Sakura and Naruto knew why.

Gai then continued on. "From what Rin told me, a new rockslide was triggered and they had no choice but to leave Obito. Obito was buried by the falling rocks, but was still alive. Obviously though, no one could survive that, especially one in Obito's position. Minato returned just in time to save Kakashi and Rin, and together they completed the mission."

The six Genin looked at each other, clearly everyone was upset at this story and TenTen was the bravest at that moment and spoke up, "What happened to Rin and Minato?"

"Minato became the fourth Hokage." At this everyone gasped, but Naruto was clearly the most stunned.

"Kakashi-sensei's sensei was the FOURTH HOKAGE?!" Gai nodded at Naruto's shouted question. "Wow." Naruto whispered.

"A year after Obito's death, Kakashi and Rin had decided to start dating." Sakura smiled at this, "However, she ended up being killed on a mission before they could even go out on their first date." Sakura gasped and put her hand to her mouth. _Maybe that's why Kakashi-sensei doesn't have a girlfriend; he must be the loyal type. He doesn't want some other girl taking Rin's place,_ _so he uses the Icha Icha books as a strange substitute_.

"And I don't think I need to tell you what happened to Kakashi's sensei," Gai said as he looked at Naruto, who looked like he had just been punched in the ribs. _Why, why doesn't Kakashi-sensei hate me then? _Naruto thought.

"Now, wasn't one of your questions to know where Kakashi was?" Kakashi's students nodded. "Think about Kakashi's excuse for being late for a moment. Kakashi never lies, instead, he talks in a way that you sometimes need to read into."

"You mean about black cats?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Gai sighed, "Well ok, maybe he doesn't always tell the truth. But no, that's not the one I was talking about."

"Do you mean when he says, 'I got lost on the road of life'?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, think about what I just told you and try to translate that." Gai turned to his students, "now lets get back to training!" he said in an overly happy tone. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke walked away, deep in thought on the hidden meaning behind that excuse.

"Guys I just thought of something!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing his teammates' attention. "Remember when Kakashi-sensei pinned Sasuke to the ground and sat on him when we were trying to get the bells?" Sakura nodded and Sasuke scowled. "Remember he said, 'an enemy takes a hostage and you have an impossible choice, and someone ends up dead'. He was telling us about what happened to him and we didn't even catch it until now," Naruto said with a frown.

"Wow Naruto, I'm impressed you remembered that." Sakura said in a shocked tone.

"Why wouldn't I? He had my full attention since he humiliated Teme!" Naruto said with a chuckle, earning a growl from Sasuke.

Sakura gasped, "Wait, remember right after that he started talking about the memorial stone? He said that the names of all his closest friends are engraved there. Could he be spending all of his time at the memorial? I mean, when you're so deep in thought it's so easy to lose track of time. Kakashi-sensei must have meant that he's always lost in the past when he goes to the memorial. Always thinking about the past means he stops thinking about the present, making him more distant from everything that's a part of life. That's how he gets lost on the road of life!" Sakura exclaimed happily. Sasuke nodded his understanding.

"My brain hurts now," Naruto pouted. Sakura laughed and Sasuke smirked at Naruto's expression.

"Lets go to the memorial to find Kakashi-sensei then," Sakura said as she began walking towards the memorial with Naruto and Sasuke following.

It didn't take long for them to reach the memorial, and just as they expected, Kakashi was there standing in front of the snow covered memorial.

"He looks so sad," Sakura whispered with a frown. "Now I feel bad for always calling him a liar."

"So what are we gonna do?" Naruto asked, "Just walk over to him now or just stay here and wait until he's done?"

"I guess we can go say hi and maybe join him. I'm sure he might want a little company right?" Sakura answered as she slowly stood up from her crouched position in the tree. Naruto and Sasuke nodded and the three leapt down and started walking towards their sensei.

"So, it seems you three have finally figured it out huh?" Kakashi said, not taking his visible eye off the memorial stone. Sakura noticed that all the names remained covered by the snow except for two, Obito Uchiha and Rin. "You really miss them still huh?" Sakura asked in a soft voice, her eyes remaining on the two names. Kakashi didn't answer her; he just silently traced his fingers over the two names.

"Gai told us what happened to you back then," Sasuke said as he walked up to stand next to Kakashi. "I'm sorry for what I said a few months ago." Kakashi's gaze never left the two names as he replied, "It's all right, you didn't know back then."

Naruto understood, but he couldn't stand the sadness in the air coming from his three teammates so he decided to try and lighten things up, "How come you never told us that your sensei was the Fourth Hokage?!" Naruto shouted, earning a surprising chuckle from the masked Jounin. "You never asked." Naruto's eyes widened as he realized Kakashi was right. Never once had they ever asked about Kakashi's old team because they were too involved with themselves.

"Well now that we do know, we're interested in what they were like. Gai-sensei told us the sad stuff, but we'd like to hear something happy." Sakura said with a small smile. "Can you tell us about one of the best times you had with them please?"

Kakashi thought for a moment as he gazed at the names of his two closest friends. "All right, how about I tell you about the last Christmas we had together?"

Sakura's eyes widened before rapidly shaking her head, "no sensei, we wanna hear something happy. Talking about your last—"

"It's not a problem Sakura, really." Kakashi interrupted her. "You did ask me to tell you my happiest memory of them right?" Sakura nodded. "Well my last Christmas with them was one of the happiest days I'd ever had since I was orphaned."

**:: Flashback ::**

"Well I guess that's it for today, have a great Christmas." Minato said happily as he picked up the kunai and shurikan that had been scattered during training. "And Obito," the raven-hired Chunin turned towards the blonde Jounin, "try to stay out of trouble this time, no pranking everyone tomorrow."

"Sure thing Minato-sensei!" Obito said as he saluted the Jounin, who smiled at the hyper Uchiha. When Obito turned away though he gave a sly grin, to which the silver-haired Chunin rolled his eyes.

"You'll never change will you?" Kakashi asked Obito with a sigh. Obito smiled at his annoyed friend, "admit it, I make things interesting around here." he said as he pointed his thumb towards himself while giving a toothy grin. "What would you ever do without me?"

"Get some well needed peace and quiet that's impossible with you around," Kakashi answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Obito's grin quickly fell away at the remark.

"How did I ever manage to get stuck with you as a teammate?" Obito asked in an angry voice, "do ever you joke around? Do you ever laugh? Do you even smile?" Obito paused at the last question, "oh, but I forgot, no one can tell because you have that stupid mask on! What is that stupid thing for anyway, why do you wear it?"

"For personal reasons, that's all you need to know." Kakashi said as he started to walk away, Rin followed.

"Hey Kakashi," she began, "don't you think you should be a little nicer to Obito? He's going through some rough times with his family right now." Rin paused to look back at Obito, who had his arms folded and was pouting. "They're calling him a failure, even his own family!" at this Kakashi stopped. Seeing this as a sign that she got his attention, Rin continued, "Obito's dad has been especially hard on him, he even told him that he wished he weren't his son." When Rin finished Kakashi closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets.

"Obito isn't the genius to be expected out of such a powerful clan, it would make sense that they'd want to disown him." Kakashi said without emotion. Rin's sad expression changed to anger, "How can you be so heartless?" Rin shouted. "Because that's who I am." Kakashi stated as he began to walk away again, but this time Rin didn't follow him and instead went back to walk Obito home to try and cheer him up.

When everyone was gone, Kakashi stopped and looked at the ground. He knew how Obito felt to be seen as a failure, yet he couldn't open up to Obito or anyone else, that just wasn't him. After his father's suicide, Kakashi promised himself that he would never walk the same path. Meaning he'd have to distance himself from others to ensure he wouldn't abandon a mission for a friend.

"I know you understand Kakashi," said a figure that dropped out of the tree behind him. "And Obito in turn will understand you. If you just tell them why you wear that mask they'll understand." Kakashi didn't reply, or even acknowledge that his sensei was there. "It'll take a huge burden off of you if you opened up a little to them and told them about your father."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he spun around to face Minato, "he was NOT my father!" Kakashi shouted angrily as he pointed to his face, "as long as I wear this mask I refuse to be acknowledged as the son of a failure!"

Minato was taken aback at the sudden loudness of his usually calm and quiet student. Not wanting to make Kakashi run away from him in anger, Minato decided to change the subject, "what are you going to do for Christmas?"

Minato's change of subject worked and Kakashi calmed down, "the same as I always do. Read my books on different jutsu." Minato caught the look of sadness on the 12 year old's face. He walked up and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Kakashi…" Minato started, Kakashi looked up at him, waiting for him to continue, "Why don't you stay at my house with Kushina and I? We could use the company." Minato offered. Kakashi thought for a moment before shaking his head no. Minato sighed in defeat. "Well, at least come to our normal training grounds to exchange gifts. From what I hear, Rin and Obito both have something for you this year."

"I don't belong with any of you Minato-sensei. I don't want to get close to others." Kakashi said. "Besides, I have nothing for them, I'm not the type to be giving. You know that."

Minato sighed, "all right, but at least think about it okay?" Kakashi nodded as he started to walk home. Minato watched Kakashi's retreating form with a frown.

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It was Christmas day and Kakashi was walking slowly to Team Minato's training grounds. He thought long and hard about what to do last night. He came to a decision that he would just spend an hour with his teammates, but then go home. He fingered the pouch behind him that held the gifts he planned to give his teammates.

As he reached the training grounds he was amazed to see that Obito was already there. "You're actually here on time Obito, I'm impressed." Obito smiled. "The world must be coming to an end." Obito's smile fell and he got ready to yell when he heard Minato chuckle. The three Chunin turned to stare at their sensei, who had continued to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Obito asked with a look of confusion on his face. Minato answered him, "Kakashi was joking with you." Obito turned to Kakashi, who shrugged his shoulders. Obito smiled again, "you're joking around? I think I should be the one asking if the world's coming to an end," he said happily.

"Well now that everyone's here, who don't we exchange gifts?" Minato suggested. Rin and Obito nodded enthusiastically, Kakashi nodded slowly, unsure about this.

"I'll go first!" Rin said happily. She handed out three boxes. Inside each box was a scarf. Rin put her hands behind her back as she blushed shyly, "I, I made them myself," She said in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

"They're beautifully done Rin, thank you," Minato said happily as he put his on right away. It was light yellow with his name sown in.

Rin turned to Obito who was smiling sadly as he fingered the Uchiha fan sown into his black scarf. "Thanks Rin, but you know I'm not allowed to wear the clan symbol remember? They don't see me as one of them." Rin's smile fell, she didn't mean to upset him. She thought her gift would make him happy, knowing that he had something of his own with the red and white fan on it.

Wanting to take away the tense moment, Minato turned to Kakashi, "What's yours look like Kakashi?" Rin and Obito immediately turned to the silver haired Chunin. Kakashi held his up, it was a dark blue scarf that matched his dark blue winter coat. Sown into it was his name. Kakashi stared in shock at the wolf sown into the scarf. "Rin, how did you know about the symbol of the Hatake clan?" He knew that ever since his father abandoned his mission and was labeled as a failure, the Hatake clan symbol, which was a silver wolf's head, had been ordered to be removed from everywhere, even his own house. There was no way she could have known about it.

Rin turned red as she tried to answer him, "Se-sensei showed me a picture of the symbol. It was in a photo with his sensei, Jiraiya-sama, along with Tsunade-sama and Sakumo-sama when they were kids." Rin paused when she saw Kakashi stiffen. Minato tensed, ready to change the subject if things got bad. "Sakumo-sama had it sown onto the sleeve of his shirt. I asked Minato-sensei if that was your dad, but sensei only said that you were in the same clan." Kakashi relaxed at that, Minato hadn't told her. "I, I'm sorry that you don't like it…" Rin said sadly as she lowered her head. Obito looked confused at the tension that was in the air.

"I never said I didn't like it." Rin's head shot up at Kakashi's reply, "thank you Rin." Rin smiled brightly as a blush covered her face, Minato and Obito smiled as well.

"How about you go next Kakashi?" Minato suggested. Kakashi sighed and nodded. He pulled out an old worn out scroll from his pouch and a piece of paper. He handed the piece of paper to Minato, whose face broke out in a huge grin. "I know how much you love Ichiraku's ramen, so I got you an all you can eat free ramen ticket." "Thanks a lot Kakashi, I think I'll use this right away."

Kakashi turned to Rin and Obito, "I'm sorry that I don't have anything made or bought for you two," Kakashi said as he opened the scroll so that they could all see the inside, "but I can help teach you each a jounin level jutsu from this scroll."

Rin smiled while Obito immediately grabbed the scroll from Kakashi. His eyes scanned the list of jutsu until they fell on one in particular. _Dragon fire jutsu,_ Obito thought as his eyes widened. _If I can learn that, then I can earn the right to wear the Uchiha clan symbol and __**finally**__ be acknowledged as an Uchiha_. "I already know which one," he said as he pointed to the jutsu and showed Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded, "all right, I'll help you learn it." Obito's smile grew as he punched the air. "If I can learn that jutsu, I'll be one step closer to earning the respect of my clan. Thanks Kakashi." Kakashi nodded and smiled under his mask a little, he knew Obito would choose that jutsu because fire was an Uchiha's element. He truly wanted to help Obito, even if he didn't show it.

"I'll go next." Minato said, happy that things were going well so far. He pulled out two boxes and handed them to Obito and Rin. Kakashi was a little confused but didn't show it. "Thanks sensei!" Rin said happily as she hugged her new med kit. They all knew her dream was to become a great medic, strong enough to save everyone who needed her.

"Oh wow," Obito said, stunned for a second before an evil grin appeared on his face. His gift was a book on different types of traps. Rin and Kakashi shuddered at what the Uchiha could be thinking. Rin shot Minato a questioning look. After all, a book like that in the hands of a prankster like Obito was like giving a pyromaniac a can of gasoline and a match.

"Now remember Obito," Minato started, knowing all too well what the boy must be thinking, "the things you learn in that book are to only be used on your enemies on missions, not as pranks on those here in Konoha." Obito's smile faltered for a second before it returned as he nodded, "Don't worry sensei, I won't use it to prank anyone." Kakashi shook his head. Knowing Obito, he will even though he said he wouldn't.

"Now Kakashi," Kakashi turned towards Minato, "finding something for you was a little hard, so instead I decided to teach you my original jutsu, the Rasengan." The three Chunin looked at him with wide eyes. "Are you serious?" Obito asked in awe at the offer. Minato smiled and nodded. "Kakashi is going to be taking the Jounin exams next year shortly after his birthday. I think he'll need to know a special jutsu for it to wow the judges.

"Thank you sensei," Kakashi said, clearly stunned. Minato smiled and said, "but I'll start teaching it to you after New Year's Day. For now lets enjoy the rest of this year." Kakashi nodded.

Obito looked a little upset at first, but realizing it was his turn he quickly got up and handed everyone a gift. Rin smiled happily at the medic book, "thanks Obito. This'll come in handy for my medic ninja training." Obito blushed a little and smiled.

Minato laughed at the gift he got, it was a book on surviving while living with a woman. Obito looked at him and they shared a laugh, though if Kushina found out about the book, she'd bash both their heads in. "Thanks Obito, but fair warning, if I don't show up for training you'll find me at the hospital after Kushina gets through with me." His smile widened as he turned to Rin, "hey, now there's an idea, you'll get some good practice in with your new med kit and medical book." Rin laughed along with Minato and Obito, though she didn't find any of it funny. Kushina was very pretty, but she was tough and didn't act feminine at all. She acted like she was one of the guys.

The three then turned to Kakashi, who had yet to open his, "hurry up Kakashi, open it." Obito said with a sly grin. Kakashi tried to ignore the look on the prankster's face but it only made him even more worried to open the gift. He slowly started to unwrap it, expecting some sort of prank. He sighed in relief when he found that it was only a book. That is, until he read the title, _Icha Icha Paradise. _

Obito instantly started rolling on the snow laughing his head off at the expression on Kakashi's face. Minato was confused for a second until he took a closer look at he orange book. As soon as he realized what it was he burst out laughing. Kakashi scowled at the two ninjas.

Minato tried to catch his breath as he wiped the tears from his eyes that formed because he was laughing so hard, "oh man, wait until I tell Jiraiya-sensei about this!"

"Obito, you know this isn't allowed," Kakashi said, causing Obito and Minato to stop laughing.

"I know, but Kakashi, you need to loosen up a little. You're too strict about the rules. Breaking one small rule well help you relax a little." Obito said. Kakashi looked at Minato to correct Obito.

Minato sighed, "Kakashi's right Obito," Kakashi looked over at Obito with a grin under his mask, "but Obito is right too." Minato finished. "Ha, told you so," Obito said as he pointed at the scowling Chunin.

At that moment Kakashi decided it was a good time to go. "Hey, where are you going?" Rin asked. "Home," was all Kakashi said.

"Wait Kakashi," Minato called after him. Kakashi turned. "Meet us at Ichiraku's in an hour to have lunch." Kakashi nodded, which surprised Minato a little. He was expecting Kakashi to argue about it, saying he had better things to do.

Kakashi made sure he was a good enough distance away before he pulled out the orange book. He hated to admit it, but he was curious about the books and had been for a while. Could Obito have caught him glancing at the books on the shelf at the bookstore when Minato would take them there sometimes?

Kakashi glanced around him before sitting down in the snow to read. After finishing a few chapters he had to admit it wasn't at all as bad as he expected. He was so into the book that he didn't sense the person sneaking up behind him.

"Going home huh?" the voice made him jump up onto his feet and stuff the book into his pouch. The voice belonged to the last person he wanted to see him reading one of those books. Obito had a mischievous grin on his face and Kakashi knew what was coming. "I knew it!" Obito shouted, making Kakashi cringe, "even you have to break a rule every once in a while." Kakashi scowled.

"Or in other words, you're trying to get me in trouble." Kakashi said. Obito shook his head. "No I'm not, I just want you to show that you're human every once in a while." Obito sighed, "You're like a robot Kakashi, and you're always pushing us away. We want to be your friends. So let us."

Kakashi was shocked at Obito's sudden seriousness. He thought about what Minato said and decided maybe he will give them a chance. After all, being closer to your teammates can also make completing a mission easier too because there's no arguing. "What do you say we head to Ichiraku's? It is about the time we're supposed to meet Minato-sensei, and Rin's most likely already there." Obito nodded. "Race you." Obito said with a smirk as he started running. Kakashi smiled a little under his mask before he took off after Obito.

Just like Kakashi said, Rin was the first one there. Obito sat next to Rin and Kakashi sat next to Obito. Not long after they sat down and ordered their ramen they heard their sensei's voice. They turned to see Minato and Jiraiya walking towards them.

"Wow, you all beat me here." Minato said happily. "Obito couldn't be late because I was with him." Kakashi said, earning a glare from Obito. "Hey! I would have still made it on time without you." He shouted. Kakashi just acted like he didn't hear him.

Kakashi turned to the side to sneak a peak at his Icha Icha book while everyone was talking to Minato and Jiraiya, unfortunately Obito looked over at him just as he took it out.

"Watcha reading Kashi?" Obito said loudly with a huge smile. Obito was trying to draw everyone's attention to Kakashi, and it was working. Kakashi tried to put the book away before anyone noticed, but Obito quickly went to grab it.

Kakashi managed to push Obito off him and onto the ground. Unfortunately for Kakashi, when he pushed Obito down, he unintentionally flashed the book so everyone could see.

"Wow, so I have fans even at that young an age," Jiraiya said with a laugh. Earning him a glare from Kakashi. "It was from Obito, so he's to blame."

Obito glared at Kakashi from where he was still sitting on the ground. When he suddenly kicked the leg of Kakashi's stool, causing Kakashi to fall backwards onto the ground next to him. Obito grabbed the book but Kakashi tackled him and tried to get it back.

As the two fought for the book, their teammates and Jiraiya watched with amused expressions. When Obito held the book out of Kakashi's reach, Rin grabbed it.

"What's so great about this book that the two of you are fighting over it?" she asked as she started to open it. "Nooo, don't Rin!" Obito and Kakashi both shouted but she ignored them and started to read. After a few seconds a bright red blush covered her face, "oh," she whispered with wide eyes.

Jiraiya chuckled from his seat, "She must have opened up to page 125." He said in amusement. He turned to Minato, "Your students are great entertainment Minato." At his comment, three snowballs hit him in the face. Minato laughed, "and also have good aim." Suddenly another set of snowballs went flying, this time hitting Minato.

Minato smirked. "Well I'm not just going to sit here like you and take it." He said as he picked up some snow and through it at Obito, who was closest to him. Seconds later a full on snowball fight began between Team Minato. Jiraiya watched as the three students ganged up on his former student and chuckled as he took out his camera. He just had to get a shot of this.

An hour later the snowball fight ended, and there was no clear winner. "How about a group picture huh?" Jiraiya asked the four-tired shinobi. Minato moved in behind the three Chunin and wrapped his arms around them, at first he had startled them but then they all started to laugh, even Kakashi. Jiraiya laughed too as he snapped the group photo.

**:: End Flashback ::**

"So that's when you started reading those books!" Naruto laughed. Kakashi nodded his head; he looked down at the names of his best friend Obito and his girlfriend Rin. He then looked up at the face of his sensei on the mountain over the Hokage Tower.

Sakura thought that it'd be a good time to tell Kakashi what they did to find out. "Um, Kakashi-sensei…" she started, grabbing everyone's attention. "We were looking for you earlier and well, Naruto broke into your house--"

"Hey!" Naruto interrupted her. She sent him a glare that shut him up.

"We wanted to know if you were there and well. We saw your team photo above your bed." Kakashi didn't look angry so she continued. "We, well, we accidentally broke the frame the Team Minato photo was in." She said quickly as she pulled the photo out of her pocket.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened when they looked at the photo, Sakura looked near tears when she looked at the photo. "I'm sorry sensei, I'm so sorry!" she said shakily. The photo had somehow gotten wet in her pocket and had torn.

Kakashi silently took the photo of his beloved team back; he didn't say anything but his three students could easily see the hurt in his eyes as he held the damaged photo in his hands. "I'm so sorry," Sakura whispered as tears ran down her face. She got up and ran, hating that she had destroyed the only photograph Kakashi had of the team that changed his life.

Sasuke and Naruto caught up to her and Naruto tried to hug her to calm her down but she pushed him away. "I can't believe I ruined it!" Sakura cried between sobs. "It wasn't your fault Sakura-chan," Naruto said gently. "I shouldn't have talked you into breaking into his house in the first place, this is all my fault."

"Now what do we do?" Sakura said as she wiped away her tears. Naruto thought for a second before his eyes lit up. "I know!" he said happily.

"What?" Sakura asked. Naruto smiled.

"We pay a little visit to Ero-Sennin that's what."

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It was Christmas day and the three Genin arrived at the memorial stone. Just like they expected, Kakashi was there.

"Um, hi Kakashi-sensei. Merry Christmas," Sakura said, still upset at what she did the other day. Kakashi picked up on that.

"It was an accident Sakura, it's okay." He said.

The three Genin then saw that there were items sitting on the ground in front of the stone, orange goggles, a worn out med kit, and his old Icha Icha book. Kakashi caught their gaze and explained.

"Every Christmas I bring their favorite items here. Obito's goggles, the old med kit Rin gave me for my Jounin promotion, and of course the Icha Icha book that somehow made me accept them as my friends." Kakashi chuckled softly, remembering the fight over the book that had led to the snowball fight, which in turn led them to becoming official friends.

"We have something for you." Naruto said as he nudged Sakura with his elbow. Sakura walked up to him and handed him two gifts. Kakashi opened one of them and his eyes widened. He went to speak when Naruto spoke, "open the other one open the other one!"

Kakashi set the first gift aside and opened the other, again his eyes widened. When he looked up at his students they noticed his visible eye had become glassy. "How? How did you find these?"

Naruto chuckled a little before answering, "You told us that Ero-Sennin had taken two pictures that day. So we figured that he'd still have them since the fourth was his student."

"Thank you, all of you," Kakashi said happily as he looked from one framed picture to the other. One was the picture of the snowball fight. He and Obito had teamed up to hit Minato with a double snowball while Rin laughed at Minato's comical expression. And the other was the group picture. Minato had his arms wrapped around him, Obito, and Rin as they all smiled at the camera, Obito still laughing.

Sakura and Naruto had wide grins on their faces as they went up and hugged their sensei, Sasuke just stood there with a smirk on his face. "And by the way sensei," Naruto started, "from now on, you'll never spend Christmas alone,"

"Yeah, because we'll always be with you." Sakura finished for Naruto. Kakashi smiled happily under the mask.

"Soooo, what do you have for us?" Naruto asked, earning a punch to the head from Sakura.

"Dobe," Sasuke said. Kakashi laughed

"Well, I guess after all this time I could show you." At this the three Genin turned towards him with wide eyes, having a feeling what he meant.

"Do you mean?" Sakura started, Kakashi nodded as he took off his headband, revealing Obito's sharingan. Then he as he reached for his mask the three Genin sucked in their breath and leaned forward. When he pulled down his mask the three Genin's eyes widened.

"You're so hot," Sakura said as she blushed.

"Why do you still wear that stupid thing?!" Naruto shouted, "You can't still hate Sakumo after all this time, so why?" Sasuke nodded, wondering the same thing.

"I guess it's just become a part of me," Kakashi said as he smiled, but this time they could really see it. Sakura's blush increased because him smiling like that made him look even better.

"You know…" Sasuke started, everyone turned to him waiting for him to continue. "If you went and smiled like that without your mask, you could probably get all my fan girls to leave me alone."

Kakashi chuckled, "why, because they'd be coming after me?" Sasuke nodded. "I don't think I want that happening," Kakashi said as he put his mask back on, earning protests from his three students.

"So what do we do now?" Kakashi asked. Naruto grinned as he picked up some snow, "How about a snowball fight?"

* * *

_Wow, 21 pages… I've never written something that long before. Well, don't expect anything this long to be in my chapter stories. I always loved Kakashi's old team, especially Obito, who's my second favorite Naruto character, so I had to write something with him in it and I didn't want to rush my other story to get to the Kakashi Gaiden part, so I guess I wrote this also for that reason. You may have also noticed a lot of things I read into, like his excuse, why he wears the mask, and so on, I just like to read into him since he's my favorite. Well that's it, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. And could you please check out my first anime music video? It's a Kakashi one. Just go to www dot Youtube dot com slash Rika24 and it's the only video there. It's called "No Way Out."_


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